Society

　　Homes for Pensions

　　China has begun to pilot its much-debated houses-for-pensions program in four cities as the country seeks alternative methods to cope with the rising needs of an aging population.

　　On July 1， Beijing， Shanghai， Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and Wuhan in Hubei Province launched a scheme that allows home owners over 60 to deed their houses to an insurance company or bank， which will then grant them a certain amount every month depending on the value of the houses and the person’s life expectancy.

　　According to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC)， the pilot will last for two years.

　　CIRC official Yuan Xucheng said the pilot is intended to expand funding channels and improve the quality of the elderly care system.

　　The program， while hailed by some experts as an innovative solution， has sparked heated debate among the public， especially among those whose parents have property and fear losing their inheritance.

　　Latest official data show that the number of people aged above 60 has reached 202.43 million in China.

　　Anti-Terror Fight

　　The Chinese Government on June 24 released a television program about online terrorist propaganda created by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM)， which is listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist group.

　　In 2013， Chinese police tracked down 109 pieces of terror-related audio and video content produced by the movement， compared with 32 in the previous year， according to the State Internet Information Office (SIIO). The recordings were matched by a surge in attacks.

　　Besides promoting terrorism， ETIM videos also offer tutorials on how to make explosives and how to use weapons.

　　The documentary indicates that the videos are produced outside China， with many hosted on servers in Turky.

　　The documentary’s release followed the launch of a campaign on June 20 to rid the Internet of audio and video materials that promote terrorism or violence.

　　The move aims to safeguard social stability and long-term peace in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， according to a statement from the SIIO.

　　The authorities will prevent terrorist materials produced overseas from being disseminated in China， remove such information online， punish website servers violating the rules and urge Internet companies to uphold their responsibilities， the statement said.

　　Xinjiang saw its bloodiest attack in five years on May 22 when 39 innocent people were killed in a terrorist attack in the regional capital of Urumqi. On April 30， three people were killed and 79 injured in an attack at a railway station in the city.

　　Super Computer

　　The Tianhe-2 supercomputer， developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology， remains the world’s most powerful computer， according to a biannual Top 500 list of supercomputers. This is the third time Tianhe-2 has topped the list.

　　Tianhe-2， which is Chinese for “Milky Way-2，” clocks in at 33.86 petaflops， the equivalent of 33，860 trillion calculations per second. One hour of calculations by the machine would take the entire population of China 1，000 years if everyone was given a calculator.

　　The supercomputer is a product of China’s 863 hi-tech program， which aims to reduce reliance on foreign technology. According to a statement from the Ministry of Science and Technology， Tianhe-2 has provided computing support for more than 120 clients at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou in south China’s Guangdong Province.

　　The development of the C919 airliner and drug testing in the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica were both aided by Tianhe-2. The supercomputer also helped to support Guangzhou’s e-government database and cloud computing storage.

　　Bacteria Breakthrough

　　Chinese scientists have successfully analyzed the structure of bacterium shigella flexneri， a breakthrough that may lead to a better understanding of drug-resistant illnesses.

　　The research team headed by Huang Yihua from the Institute of Biophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has analyzed lipopolysaccharide structure of the external membrane of the germ.

　　The Gram-negative bacteria is part of the lineage of more than half of drug-resistant bacteria and its outer membrane is the main source of the microbe’s success.

　　According to Huang， the finding could open the door to new antibiotic strategies that target bacterial membranes.

　　Vocational Education

　　The total number of students at vocational education institutions across China will reach 38.3 million by 2020， a new government guideline announced on June 22. The document was released to help boost vocational education and was issued by the State Council， China’s cabinet.

　　In 2020， it is expected that approximately 23.5 million students will study at vocational schools， which will take in students after they finish the first three years in middle schools. There will be 14.8 million students at vocational colleges that admit students from ordinary high schools and vocational schools and offer two or three years of further vocational education， according to the document.

　　Currently a total of 29.34 million students study at 13，600 vocational schools and colleges across China.

　　Higher Education

　　Kashgar University， the first comprehensive university in south Xinjiang， is already under construction， local authorities said on June 25.

　　The southern part of Xinjiang borders Pakistan， Afghanistan and Tajikistan， has a population of around 10 million， mainly ethnic Uygur people. It is substantially less developed than the northern part of the region.

　　South Xinjiang currently has only two higher learning institutions—Kashgar Normal University and Alar Tarim University. Kashgar Normal University offers 27 disciplines， mainly linguistics and teaching.

　　Erken Umer， President of Kashgar University， said that the new university will provide courses in international trade， business administration， architecture， tourism and hotel management as well as basic sciences and arts.

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